Unless otherwise indicated herein, the materials described in this section are not prior art to the claims in this application and are not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section.
Airborne unmanned camera platforms based on Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) have various law enforcement, firefighting, search and rescue, inspection, and television broadcast applications. By installing a wirelessly accessible camera (digital or analog) on a UAV that is remotely controlled, high cost and high maintenance manned aircraft (planes, helicopters) are no longer needed. In addition to reducing setup/operation cost and risk to humans, UAV based camera platforms enable safe operations where manned aircraft may not be able to go. For example, manned aircraft are typically not allowed to fly within about 500 ft. of the ground, while small UAVs are commonly limited to altitudes below about 500 ft. Thus UAVs have an inspection advantage. UAV based platforms also enable use of different types and quality of image capture equipment. Analog or digital cameras of various resolution capabilities may be installed on UAVs even between flights.
One example application of UAV based camera platforms is in the inspection industry. For pre- or post-construction inspections of large or small structures, a UAV based camera platform may be used eliminating the need for inspectors to climb on structures or otherwise placing themselves at risk. Moreover, natural impediments such as weather do not affect UAV operations as they would with humans. UAV operations are, however, subject to various limitations.
The present disclosure appreciates that there are numerous limitations with UAV based image capture systems. For example, power (fuel or electric) is typically limited. Noise and flight path restrictions due to regulatory regulations have to be considered in determining a flight path of the UAV. Furthermore, operation time and cost may increase if a UAV has to fly around a structure repeatedly to capture aspects of the structure not captured during earlier flights. With sophisticated flight control software and extensive training, UAV operations may be optimized, but given the trend to simplify UAVs and their controllers (e.g., smart phone based UAV controllers are becoming popular), complex control software and specialized training increase the cost and limit the use of such systems.